A rape suspect disappeared off the Narrows Bridge in 2009. Neighbors just found him in L.A.
A suspect wanted on rape charges in Kitsap County was presumed dead 15 years ago after jumping from the Tacoma Narrows Bridge -- until two neighbors found out the wanted fugitive had been living in a Los Angeles apartment until his death in February.
In 2009, a man in a red sweatshirt identified as Christian Robert Basham was seen walking towards the midspan of the Tacoma Narrows bridge, according to a Kitsap Sun story published March 28, 2009. Basham had been arrested by Bremerton police in 2008 and charged with second-degree child rape, but skipped his next court appearance after posting a $350,000 bail. If convicted, Basham was facing a minimum of six and a half years in prison.
A witness who was at the bridge at the time told investigators that Basham jumped "without hesitation" over the railing, falling 240 feet into the water. Basham’s car was found on the Gig Harbor side of the bridge with a suicide note inside, according to Washington State Patrol, and a spokesperson at the time suggested the man jumped due to the pending charges. WSP and Tacoma police, Gig Harbor police and Tacoma fire departments searched the water for his body, but it was never recovered.
Until February 26, 2024.
Tommy Cuellar moved into his current apartment complex in Los Angeles in 2014, he told the Kitsap Sun, and lived downstairs from a maintenance man named Mark Clemens. In 2021, Cuellar moved to a unit one floor up, coming to share a wall with Clemens.
Clemens had a cat, like Cuellar, and occasionally left his door open and the cats would interact. Clemens once fed Cuellar’s cat while he was away and was kind to them, as Cuellar observed from his apartment cameras.
“Nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary,” Cuellar said. “He was a good maintenance guy and he fixed things pretty quickly.”
But on February 26, Clemens was found dead in his apartment. The Los Angeles County medical examiner posted a tag on the apartment with a case number. Cuellar’s neighbor, and soon Cuellar himself, became curious and looked up the case. But neither of them found anyone by the name of Clemens.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner identified the deceased man, known as Mark Clemens, as Christian Basham. Basham’s date of birth matches that of the Christian Robert Basham who still has outstanding warrants for his arrest in Kitsap County, the same man presumed to have jumped off the Narrows Bridge 15 years ago.
After being contacted by the Kitsap Sun, the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office notified the Bremerton Police Department. This week BPD confirmed that the Basham found dead in L.A. was the same who had jumped from the Tacoma Narrows bridge, said BPD officer Beau Ayers.
“None of us in the building knew, which makes this especially unsettling as he was trusted with a master key for our apartments as maintenance person,” Cuellar said.
The investigation into Basham’s cause of death has been deferred and it may be three months before a determination is made, said the Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office.
The information on Basham’s death will be passed along to the Kitsap County prosecutor’s office, who will decide how to close the case.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Bremerton man wanted on rape charge
